to shop / {purse diaries} mansur gavriel, pt. 2

I’ve been wanting a mini lady bag or lady bag in cammello or brandy, which are both vegetable tanned leather. I like brandy because it was always love at first sight, but photos of the cammello patina’ed get me and brandy’s always been harder to find. I’m wavering between the lady and the mini lady — because I can never see myself traveling with the mini lady. It doesn’t help that I repeatedly buy these bags (which is no easy feat), only to return them because they came with scratches. I’m not naming any names, but the scratches are not a manufacturer’s defect — I’ve seen plenty of perfect non-lady vegetable tanned bags and one cammello mini lady. Some of these bags have been very poorly packaged or handled by the retailer. I’m okay with the nature of the leather being susceptible to scratches, but I will not pay top dollar for a pre-scratched bag. Especially scratches in a non-conspicuous spot. I rather scratch it myself. And as much as I love my durable saffiano bucket, I don’t want another black bag (unless Mansur Gavriel decides to make a non-black saffiano lady…)

Isn’t the brandy gorgeous?

Image: PurseBlog

So, only buy from a shop with a return policy, pre-order where you can, and have patience.